Using REST module

This section contains a number of examples which illustrate various uses of the REST data configuration api.

The GeoServer REST configuration module uses the REST principles to expose services allowing to edit the catalog, in particular to manage workspaces, stores, layers, styles and groups.

Note

The REST configuration extension has normally to be installed separately, it is not come out of the box.

The examples in this section use the cURL utility, which is a handy command line tool for executing HTTP requests and transferring files.

1. Open the Terminal and enter the following command:

   curl -u admin:Geos -v -XPOST -H 'Content-type: text/xml' -d '<workspace><name>myworkspace</name></workspace>' http://localhost:8083/geoserver/rest/workspaces
   

the response should contains the following:

Create a new workspace via REST

1. Go to the Workspaces section via Web interface to show the new workspace created

   

   GET request to abtain new workspace details

2. Get the new created workspace details entering the following:

   curl -u geosolutions:Geos -XGET -H 'Accept: text/xml' http://localhost:8083/geoserver/rest/workspaces/myworkspace
   

   

   GET request to obtain new workspace details

3. Publish a shapefile using the myworkspace workspace entering the following:

   curl -u geosolutions:Geos -H "Content-type: application/zip" -T ${TRAINING_ROOT}/data/user_data/pointlands.zip http://localhost:8083/geoserver/rest/workspaces/myworkspace/datastores/pointlands/file.shp
   

4. Go to the Layer Preview to show the layers in a OpenLayers Map.

   

   Showing the new layer created

   

   The new layers created

   Note

   If you previously followed the security portion of the workshop the layer won’t be accessible because the administrator does not have the required roles. Go back in the service security section and remove the rule limiting the GetMap requests.

5. Retrieves the created data store as XML entering the following:

   curl -u geosolutions:Geos -XGET http://localhost:8083/geoserver/rest/workspaces/myworkspace/datastores/pointlands.xml
   

   <dataStore>
     <name>pointlands</name>
     <type>Shapefile</type>
     <enabled>true</enabled>
     <workspace>
           <name>myworkspace</name>
           <atom:link xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" rel="alternate" href="http://localhost:8083/geoserver/rest/workspaces/myworkspace.xml" type="application/xml"/>
     </workspace>
     <connectionParameters>
           <entry key="url">file:${TRAINING_ROOT}/geoserver_data/data/myworkspace/pointlands/</entry>
           <entry key="namespace">http://myworkspace</entry>
     </connectionParameters>
     <__default>false</__default>
     <featureTypes>
           <atom:link xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" rel="alternate" href="http://localhost:8083/geoserver/rest/workspaces/myworkspace/datastores/pointlands/featuretypes.xml" type="application/xml"/>
     </featureTypes>
   </dataStore>
   

   Note

   By default when a shapefile is uploaded a feature type resource and the associated layer are automatically created.

6. Retrieve the layer as XML entering the following:

   curl -u geosolutions:Geos -XGET http://localhost:8083/geoserver/rest/layers/myworkspace:pointlands.xml
   

   <layer>
     <name>pointlands</name>
     <type>VECTOR</type>
     <defaultStyle>
           <name>point</name>
           <atom:link xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" rel="alternate" href="http://localhost:8083/geoserver/rest/styles/point.xml" type="application/xml"/>
     </defaultStyle>
     <resource class="featureType">
           <name>pointlands</name>
           <atom:link xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" rel="alternate" href="http://localhost:8083/geoserver/rest/workspaces/myworkspace/datastores/pointlands/featuretypes/pointlands.xml" type="application/xml"/>
     </resource>
     <enabled>true</enabled>
     <metadata>
           <entry key="GWC.metaTilingX">4</entry>
           <entry key="GWC.autoCacheStyles">true</entry>
           <entry key="GWC.metaTilingY">4</entry>
           <entry key="GWC.gutter">0</entry>
           <entry key="GWC.enabled">true</entry>
           <entry key="GWC.gridSets">EPSG:4326,EPSG:900913</entry>
           <entry key="GWC.cacheFormats">image/png,image/jpeg</entry>
     </metadata>
     <attribution>
           <logoWidth>0</logoWidth>
           <logoHeight>0</logoHeight>
     </attribution>
   </layer>
   

   Note

   When the layer is created a default style named point is assigned to it.

7. Apply the existing landmarks style to the layer created myworkspace:pointlands (this operation does not overwrite the entire layer definition, updates it instead):

   curl -u geosolutions:Geos -XPUT -H 'Content-type: text/xml' -d '<layer><defaultStyle><name>landmarks</name></defaultStyle><enabled>true</enabled></layer>' http://localhost:8083/geoserver/rest/layers/myworkspace:pointlands
   

8. Go to the Layer Preview to show the layers with the new landmarks style.

   

   Viewing the layers with the new created style landmarks